Boise Man who Fled Police, Jumped into Boise River to Avoid Arrest will be Charged with Multiple Crimes

WOW. It isn't too often, thankfully, that you hear/get to experience a real-life high (relatively high) speed chase in your own backyard. We here at the Townsquare Media offices were glued to our screens as our colleagues returned from lunch reporting on the action taking right outside our Park Center offices.

The Ada County Sheriff released this press release summarizing the day's events. We thought about re-writing, but this movie-esque plot is just too good to be true.

"A 33-year-old Boise man had to go to the hospital Thursday afternoon because he swallowed narcotics after he drove away from a traffic stop and tried to elude Ada County Sheriff’s deputies for almost an hour in east Boise.

The man eventually drove his truck into a car stopped at the Park/ParkCenter boulevards intersection — and then drove on two flat tires for a short distance before crashing his truck into a wooden post on Cesar Chavez Lane right next to Albertson’s Stadium.

He then ran into the Boise River to try to avoid arrest. He didn’t get very far and soon surrendered to Boise and Idaho State police officers on the Greenbelt.

Deputies are recommending the man be charged with felony counts of aggravated assault, eluding arrest, and possession of a controlled substance when he is released from the hospital. We are also recommending a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest. Investigators know who he is. We will identify him publicly when he is charged.

The incident began just after 11 a.m. Thursday when an ACSO K9 deputy pulled over the driver of a white Chevy pickup truck for a traffic signal/lane change violation on Interstate 84.

The driver pulled off the highway and stopped on the side of Federal Way, near the Gowen Road intersection.

It was about 10 minutes into the traffic stop when the deputy found evidence of drugs in the pickup — but before he could get his K9 dog out to sniff around the truck, the man drove away.

The deputy then followed the man, who was driving the speed limit and stopping for red lights but refusing to pull over.

This went on for a while in the Federal Way, Broadway Avenue, Pennsylvania Street, and Boise Avenue area. Other deputies and Boise Police were in the area and monitoring the situation.

After about 10 minutes — around 11:30 a.m. — the man started driving erratically, so deputies and police stopped following him for safety reasons.

They backed off but continued to track his movement.

An ACSO deputy got behind the truck several minutes later but backed off again when the man continued to drive erratically.

At that point, all ACSO deputies and Boise police pulled back. Officers kept an eye out for the pickup but didn’t get behind it.

The next report of activity was at 11:52 a.m. when the man drove his pickup into a car stopped at the Park Center/Park boulevards intersection and kept going.

The driver of that car did not appear to be badly injured in the crash.

The man kept driving the truck, despite two flat tires from the previous crash, getting as far as Cesar Chavez Lane, before he drove into a wooden post and couldn’t drive any farther.

Police arrived at the crash scene moments later and found the man in the river. Officers coaxed him out of the water and to the shore, where he was taken into custody.

When paramedics were treating the man he admitted to swallowing drugs. Paramedics then took him to a local hospital.

Deputies searching the truck then found a small amount of cocaine in some plastic wrap on the floorboard and cocaine residue on some paper towels strewn about the truck."

We thank our law enforcement for bringing this wild chase to a close without major incident or injury.